Can coating



- v of the can and contamination of the canned mathat they are essentially saturated hydrocarbons 25 products,- including beverages Another object amount of synthetic oil is madealong with the 5 Patented Sep 1937 v UNITED STATES PATENT oFFicE C AN COATING Vanderveer Voorhees, Hammond, Ind, assignor to Standard Oil Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Indiana No Drawing. Application September '30, 1935,

Serial No. 42,893

7 Claims. (Cl. 90-181) This invention relates to a new and improved treme size oi those here involved one or morecomposition for the coating of cans or other conatoms other than carbon and hydrogen may be tainers and particularly for the coating of the present and one or more olefinic linkages may interiors of tin-plated cans to prevent corrosion be present. This does notdetract from the fact terial. The invention also relates to cans or in chemical composition. This is highly imother containers to which such coatings have portant for purposes of my invention since satbeen applied and it further relates specifically to urated hydrocarbons are usually colorless, odor- "methods of storing and transporting malted less and biologically harmless. V 10 beverages in cans and other containers. Resinous substances of the type described in 10 In the canning of various foods and beverages the last paragraph can be produced. in various using the customary commercial cans made from ways from various. materials by processes of tin-plate, serious difficulty is often encountered polymerization, condensation, and/or hydrogenafrom the corrosion of the can'and/or from the tionl p i 5 contamination of the material contained'in the The preferred resin is made by thepolymerizacan in contact with it. As a means of comtion of isobutylene with .aluminum chloride or bating this problem such cans have in the past preferably boron trifiuoride. In making this been given interior coatings of various types such resin it is desirable to carry out the polymerizaas varnishes, shellac, etc., but none of these tion at alow temperature, for instance from 29 have been entirely satisfactory. 0 F. to 100 F. or even'lower. The polymer- It is an object of my invention to provide a ization reaction may be carried out in the pressuperior material for the coating of, cans and. enceof a solvent such as naphtha, hexane, penother containers and particularly for the coattane, butane or propane, if desired. I

ing of tin-plated cans to be filled with food In some cases it will be found that a small of my invention is to provide a material of this resin. This may, if desired, be removed from type whichwill adhere tenaciously to the can.. the resin by extraction with solvents such as Still another object is to provide a material propane or acetone-benzol, by vacuum distillawhich is biologically harmless and free from tion, etc. taste and odor. A further object is to provide Numerous other unsaturated hydrocarbons a material of this type which can be applied may be polymerized to make resins suitable for very easily and rapidly. Still another object is my purpose. Among these may be mentioned to provide a can coating material having a high iso-hexene, cyclo-hexene, trimethyl ethylene, degree of plasticity. Yet another object is to iso-amylene, and other mono-olefins. Branched provide such a material which will be ,self heal chain and particularly'iso, mono-olefins are preing, that is, which will tend to reform on the ferred. l surface of the can if the film of coating material The starting material, catalysts, and polymeris temporarily disturbed. '2 ization conditions for the production of a resin Other objects of my invention are to provide a having certain desired properties can readily be superior can having an interior coating oi the determined by experiment. One preferred type previously referred to, and to provide methmethod is to treat isobutylene at a temperature ods tor the coating of cans. Further and more of 40 F., with about 0.1% to 0.5% by weight detailed objects of my/invention will become apof boron trifiuoride. Thus, the isobutylene which parent as the description thereof proceeds. is liquid at 40 F., may be held in a vessel sur- 45 It has been found that when certain olefinic rounded by a refrigerating bath and boron trihydrocarbons are polymerized under appropriate fluoride gas may be led in with constant stirring conditions substances having very unusual propuntil the desired plastic, viscous resin is proerties are produced. These products are viscous, duced. The reaction under these conditions plastic, resinous solids of a highly "tacky and produces a resin having a degree of plasticity sticky nature and have very high average molecuwhich is usually highly desirable in connection lar weights, usually within the range from1,000to with my invention. The resin thus produced 12,000 and preferably from 1,500 to 8,000. They may be purified by washing with a 10% to 20% are essentially hydrocarbon in chemical'compoaqueous solution of sodium hydroxide and then sition and are practically; saturated. It is, how-- with water. I 55 ever. quite possible that in molecules of the ex- If the resin produced is not entirely colorless and odorless it can be rendered so by treatment, in light hydrocarbon solution or otherwise, with sulfuric acid, fullers earth, or other treating agent as in the manufacture of refined petroleum oils.

In applying these resins to a can or other container, they may advantageously be dissolved in a'volatile solvent, preferably a hydrocarbonsolvent. A light naphtha is suitable for this purpose and such hydrocarbons as hexane, pentane, butane, propane and mixtures containing them are suitable. The resin may suitably be dissolved in 2 to 20 times its own volume of solvent and may then be applied to the interior of the can or other container by spraying. The solvent oanreadily beevaporated by applying a blast of air or preferably a suction device to an opening in the can. When a volatile solvent is used, it will be found that it can be completely removed with ease to leave a thin .but highly adhesive coating on the interior of the can. The coating may suitably be a film .001 inch to .01 inch in thickness.

Alternatively, a solution of resin may be placed in the can, sloshed about to 'secure' contact with all portions of the interior and then poured off. The evaporation of the solvent from the film remaining on the can will leave a very thin film of resin which will be sufficient to protect the imerior of the can from rusting and prevent products contained in it from contamination.

Not only are these resins highly adhesive but theyare also substantially odorless, tasteless and biologically inert so that even though some of the resin became disengaged from the can and got into the food product, there would be no undesirable effect. However, these resins are extremely water insoluble and cling tenaciously to metals. They therefore do not contaminate ordinary food products.

These resins are especially useful in preventing corrosion under the severe conditions occurring when a can of food product is opened and allowed to standwhile still partially filled with the food product.

My invention is particularly applicable to the canning of beverages, for example malt liquors such as beer, and liquid food products such as syrups, fruit juices, etc. However, it is also applicable to the canning of fruits, vegetables, and certain meat products which do notcontain fats or oils.

While I have described my invention in connection with certain specific embodiments, it is to be understood that I am not limited thereby but only to the broadest valid scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

'1. The method of storing and transporting malted beverages in metal cans whereby said beverages are prevented from acquiring undesirable flavors from said cans comprising initially completely coating the interior surfaces of said cans with a thin layer of a viscous, adhesive, tasteless, chemically inert, water insoluble synthetic hydrocarbon resin resulting from the catalytic polymerization at low temperatures of liquid lsobutylene.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the syntheic hydrocarbon resin is produced by the polymerization of liquid isobutylene at a temperature betweenO and F.

3. The method'of claim 1 wherein the catalyst employed in the polymerization of the said liquid isobutylene is boron trifiuoride.

4. A container for food and beverage products which are deleteriously affected by contact with metal, comprising a metal receptacle and a viscous metal adhesive coating completely covering the interior thereof, the principal ingredient ,of which is a high molecular weight resin resulting from the low temperature catalytic polymerization of lsobutylene.

5. A container for food and beverage products which are deleteriously affected by contact with metal, comprising a tin-plated, sheet-iron receptacle and a viscous metal adhesive coating completely covering the interior thereof, the principal ingredient of which is a high molecular weight resin resulting from the low temperature catalytic polymerization of lsobutylene.

6. A container for food and'beverage products which are deleteriously affected by contact with metal, comprising a metal receptacle and a viscous metal adhesive coating completely covering the interior thereof, the principal ingredient of which is a high molecular weight resin resulting from the polymerization of liquid isobutylene in ing of isohexene, cyclohexene, trimethyl ethylene,

isoamylene and lsobutylene.

VANDERVEER VOORHEES. 

